“I mean, our fan base should feel challenged.”

Whatever happened to the concept of showing up at G-Day for the simple pleasure of enjoying a nice spring day watching the team scrimmage? Now it’s turned into Kirby Smart Wants You! Day.

But compare the pregame buzz for G-Day 2017 to what we were hearing and feeling this time last year for “93K Day,” and it’s like night and day.

I asked coach Kirby Smart if he was concerned about that. He said he was not. But he did say he’s hoping for another big turnout, and preferably another capacity crowd for 92,746-seat Sanford Stadium.

“I mean, our fan base should feel challenged,” Smart said following the Bulldogs’ second scrimmage of the spring Saturday at Sanford Stadium. “They should want to go out and have more (attendance) than the other teams have because it does help in recruiting. It shows the passion and the energy that I know our fan base has, so that really is important.”

I suppose I should feel grateful that at least they’re not charging me for the privilege of attending.  Plus, they’re supplying the motivation!

“We are marketing it internally,” he said. “We’re doing Red versus Black. It’s huge. You can’t imagine the effect that had on recruiting (last year). Talk to the kids we just signed and they all tell you that it had a great effect.”

Huge!  And that’s even before we get into the QBR debate.

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If you’re a coach like Kirby Smart or Nick Saban who’s already unhappy about the new NCAA rule that places limits on hiring high school coaches who, through no fault of their own, coincidentally happen to have highly regarded recruits on their roster, you’re probably going to go nuclear over the NCAA’s next initiative.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby promised Friday that the NCAA Football Oversight Committee will take a “holistic look at staff sizes” within the next year, meaning that the proliferation of various analysts and other support positions could soon be regulated.

Speaking in a conference call with reporters in his role as Football Oversight Committee chairman, Bowlsby said the committee has two priorities for the coming year. First is adjusting the college football calendar as pertains to recruiting and practice times.

The second priority is a “deep dive on personnel.” The NCAA on Friday approved a 10^th on-field assistant coach, and though that will not immediately affect the number of analysts a program can hire, Bowlsby said the time has come to examine staff sizes in college football.

“I think that door has been open for a while,” Bowlsby said. “We’re seeing very large staff. We see non-coaching personnel doing coaching duties. It is one of our two priorities for the Football Oversight Committee for the coming year … looking at personnel and how personnel should be deployed in the football coaching staff environment.”

Bowlsby did not identify any schools by names, but Alabama and Ohio State are among those most often mentioned to be bending the rules on personnel size. Bowlsby noted that one school — again, whom he did not mention — employed a football staff of 97 people, including on-field coaches, off-field player personnel staff, recruiting assistants and various analysts and graduate assistants.

You’ve got to admit if the Analyst Inn is full up, then it really doesn’t matter if that high school coach looking to move up has a gotta-have-Johnny Football on his roster.

Not that Greg McGarity is likely to strenuously object, either.

Coaches crossfire

Point:

In addition, Smart reiterated his position against a rule the Division I Council approved that will prevent colleges from hiring anyone closely associated with a prospective student-athlete for a “two-year period before and after the student’s anticipated and actual enrollment at the school.”

Smart said this rule is a hindrance to good high school coaches who are trying to break in at the college level.

“It’s hard in the coaching profession to grow coaches and develop coaches like we do in the SEC without the ability to hire high school coaches,” Smart said. “And they still argue, ‘You can still hire them, you just can’t hire the ones with prospects.’ Well, when you sign 25 (players) a year it’s hard not to hire one who may interact with a prospect. It does limit those guys so that’s a disappointing part of that rule.”

Counterpoint:

“I think it’s a good idea,” new Western Kentucky head coach Mike Sanford told CoachingSearch. “That’s gotten out of control, it really has. If you really want to hire that coach and the value of getting the coach on the staff, then chose the coach over the recruit. If you do truly just want to get a recruit, then abide by that rule.”

Methinks Kirby doth protest too much, but I’m not the one with the big budget for analysts.

The return of Nick Chubb

Even Kirby Smart’s getting excited about what he’s seeing out of his star running back this spring.

No matter how many times it was asked a year ago, Kirby Smart never cracked. He never used Nick Chubb’s gruesome knee injury as an excuse for the star running backs’ drop in production. He never didn’t even lend credence to the idea that Chubb wasn’t 100 percent.

This spring, however, might be causing him to change his tune.

“I think you know more about last fall by what you see this spring out of Nick,” Smart said. “He’s a lot closer to 100 percent. He’s certainly got more burst and power.”

Among other things I’m hoping for in 2017, I want to see Chubb have the kind of season he deserves in his final year.  With a little help from his offensive line, who knows?

Wrist-slap, and a beaut

The NCAA hits former Alabama defensive line coach Bo Davis with a two-year show cause order for this:

According to the NCAA, Davis knowingly committed a recruiting violation when he took part in an impermissible meeting with four prospective recruits that was pre-arranged by a booster.

Davis then provided false or misleading information about the meeting and the booster’s involvement when questioned by Alabama and the NCAA, according to the NCAA.

His former employer?  Well, there’s a slight inconvenience, self-imposed.

Alabama had already self-imposed three penalties, a $5,000 fine, disassociation from the booster and restricting Davis and his replacement, Karl Dunbar, from off-campus recruiting or telephone contact with recruits from April 22, 2016 through May 31, 2016.

Oof.  That’s rough.  For the booster, I mean.